Hello all, I am a Chilean American who is fascinated with the idea of working in my parent's home country. Life in the US is getting tougher and tougher, and while I am sure Chile is no better, I feel like I need a change of pace.

My aunt who works in the Chilean Consulate recommended that I should apply for dual citizenship and look for work there. I speak Spanish fluently, read it perfectly, although I am still working on writing it efficiently. I graduated from a top school in the US and am currently in a masters program at another top school. Once I receive my masters I plan on applying for dual citizenship.

How hard would it be for me to locate good work? I don't have the best work experience, (mostly research in public policy at my university) but by the time I finish my degree and apply for dual citizenship I should have considerable work experience in real estate, housing, project management etc. My goal would be to apply to the Ministry of Housing in Chile.

To add to the post above, one of the qualms I had with moving to Chile after I finished my undergrad was the rising crime. Just how bad is it? I haven't been back to Chile since 2001 and the place seemed fine, but looking at the news and hearing from family members they keep telling me that delinquency and petty crime there is high.

With fluency in English and Spanish, you should have no problem getting work at all (provided you are not an idiot, which from your education, it sounds like you´re not). A good starting point is looking at the various English speaking countries´ business chambers here (ie. Auscham, Britcham, Amcham etc), looking at their sponsors/members list and working your way through the companies, sending off your resume.

I know that being fully bilingual is a skill that is highly sought after and even Chileans with half-arsed English get good jobs (at Chilean standards).

Getting citizenship will be easy (provided one of your grand parents were born here) and much easier done from here, than overseas.

There is crime, petty, burglary etc. It happens, but in my opinion, in the nicer suburbs of Santiago, not so much as the nicer suburbs of say Sydney. In Sydney, I was robbed (wallet, pick pocked, intruders etc) at least once every two years. So far, after four years in Santiago, I had my wallet stolen. Friends were not so lucky and had their house robbed while they were away, but I´m South African, there they kick the crap out of you in a best case scenario, so the burglaries that are non violent doesn´t faze me as much as it might the next person.

Also, Chileans, especially those who live overseas, will grossly exaggerate any negative news/events that happen here, in my personal experience. They and Patx, of course

In the area where I live in the States, we fear the police with their outrageous attempts to arrest as many citizens as they can to meet budget deficits. I've never been the victim of a crime here unless I go out looking for trouble. Is it the same for Chile? If you go out looking for trouble, will you find it or will it just come to you? That is my concern.

I was also attracted to Chile because I hear the Carabineros are an excellent police force that shy away from corruption. To me Chile seems like a place where there is less corruption than in Latin America due to the laws already skewered in favor of the rich to where they do not need to mimic the fake democracies of the rest of the continent which express one thing but act in another fashion. I see it more like Singapore or Dubai, a well oiled yet strict country.

Also, while the dictatorship has vanished, I hear that Pinochet's shadow still lives on in the government of Chile. Is this true? Is it still hard for people to express their views concerning inequality and social injustice? Not that I would be out there protesting or anything like that but in terms of expressing my opinion.

ColoColoUSA wrote:In the area where I live in the States, we fear the police with their outrageous attempts to arrest as many citizens as they can to meet budget deficits. I've never been the victim of a crime here unless I go out looking for trouble. Is it the same for Chile? If you go out looking for trouble, will you find it or will it just come to you? That is my concern.

I was also attracted to Chile because I hear the Carabineros are an excellent police force that shy away from corruption. To me Chile seems like a place where there is less corruption than in Latin America due to the laws already skewered in favor of the rich to where they do not need to mimic the fake democracies of the rest of the continent which express one thing but act in another fashion. I see it more like Singapore or Dubai, a well oiled yet strict country.

Also, while the dictatorship has vanished, I hear that Pinochet's shadow still lives on in the government of Chile. Is this true? Is it still hard for people to express their views concerning inequality and social injustice? Not that I would be out there protesting or anything like that but in terms of expressing my opinion.

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